Bring the Heat by M.L. Rhodes

MMGBR’s Book Talk:  Bring the Heat by M.L Rhodes

 

Bring the Heat by M.L. Rhodes

An Amber Allure #1 Bestseller!
An ARE #1 Bestseller!
Multiple weeks as the #1 Bestseller on Kindle’s gay fiction list and Amazon’s overall GLBT fiction list

Police Detective Riley Ellison has a new habit…stopping by a coffeehouse called the Java Pit on his way to work. The coffee’s good, but it’s not the rich flavor that lures him to drive blocks out of his way each morning, and it’s not an addiction to caffeine either. He’s half-embarrassed to admit it, but it’s the man who keeps him coming back. The long-legged, painted-on-jeans-wearing, dark-haired, edgy sex god with the teasing eyes. He’s everything Riley—who has a history of geekdom and being flustered around hot men—is not. Riley knows he should put a stop to the daily forays because nothing can ever come of it. Guys like that aren’t interested in men like him. Yet every time the hunk meets his gaze across the crowded shop and aims a sizzling grin at him, Riley gives in and comes back to participate in the silent, sexy flirtation another day. Needless to say, the last thing he’s expecting when he goes to question a witness about a murder at a local gay strip joint is to discover the witness is his coffeehouse hottie.

Dane Scott works as a stripper strictly for fun. He doesn’t need the money—he’s got plenty in the bank from his other career. He just likes to have something to keep him busy a few nights a week. When one of his fellow dancers turns up murdered outside the strip club, the police detective who shows up on Dane’s doorstep asking questions is none other than the sexy, blond cutie he’s been flirting with at the coffeehouse for weeks. Riley Ellison’s a fascinating contradiction—rugged, strong, serious-eyed hero and bashful boy next door. A combination Dane finds all too appealing and a refreshing change from the selfish, shallow men he’s known and dated in the past. From the moment Riley flashes his badge, Dane’s determined to show the skittish cop they can make magic together.

The heat between them quickly soars to the boiling point and not even a murder investigation can cool the passion they share. That is, until new information on Riley’s case implies Dane may not be all he seems…

Genre:  Contemporary
Release date:  June 27, 2009
Length: Extended Novella (31K words)

Available in ebook formats at: Amber Allure, ARE, Kindle US, Kindle UK, Fictionwise, and other online ebook vendors
Available in paperback at: N/A at this time

Cathy enters the room that seems eerily silent. She hopes her girlfriends made it and will soon join her in this adventure of picking up, reading, and dissecting a book she’s awfully fond of. It’s none other than Bring the Heat by M.L. Rhodes. She looks around and calls in a small voice.

“Hello everyone? Anyone here yet?”

A chuckling smooth voice startles her.

“Might be”, Pixie Mmgoodbookreviews says.

Slightly relieved Cathy gives a tremulous little laugh herself.

“So? Is it just us then?” Pixie inquires looking around the empty room, irritation marring her features. She hates it when her girls aren’t on time.

“Here too” Thommie calls winking, her body making a turn just as Cathy said “Seems that way” with a resigned sigh.

Ah the cocky bitch made it after all. She’d been gone for a month now.

“Yay” Cathy exclaims. “Thommie, love your new profile thingy!”

“Heh, its wicked isn’t it?”

“Very you” Cathy replies, big smile on her face.

“Cool, do you want to start Cathy?” Pixie interrupts irritated. Really? They were going to start on pleasantries? Give me a break and let’s get this show on the road. I got things to do for crying out loud.

What did you guys think of the book?

P – I liked it, a mix of romance and investigation but neither bogged it down. It was quite refreshing. And Dane and Riley were great.

T – Well now, the investigation part was kind of lacking there.

It was pure romance on my side and even though at some point it got a bit too much I liked it a lot. The roses are red part was brilliant, made me laugh my head off.

P – Yeah that was cool.

C – I loved it but I agree with Thommie the investigation felt flat at first, it was going well then ended so suddenly…

T – It was simply a case of a short novella and no space for proper development of an investigation plot, a prop really for the two guys to meet and have that little tension between them.

P – I found the investigation side to be realistic, you would not believe the amount of times that hubby would tell me something really exciting and then I’d never hear anything again until it was in the papers. *grinds teeth*

C – I loved the investigation but then all of a sudden it disappeared and Dane was telling us it was already solved. I was like “huh? So soon?” but I loved it. I could have read for longer though, loved the two characters.

And I liked how the author used other characters for description like the barista looking over the bar and describing him out loud “yep that’s you” and hands him the paid coffee. That was great!

T – Lol, but come on admit it! In this case, although realistic and totally credible, the whole “action” part was a prop.

P – Yeah it was LOL.

T – I was thinking of tagging it as action/detective before I started it, but now I’m not going there. Mostly romance and a good one at that, albeit Dane was a bit too perfect, wasn’t he?

C – Yeah but that is what the action is most times a reason for two to meet or thrown together etc. I was expecting the police part to be more integral but it didn’t matter since I’m a romance junkie lol.

P – Yeah nah, it’s just a contemporary romance.

Dane was very perfect, but I think he was that way so we could see Riley angsting about himself.

C – I’m not sure; I think both guys were perfect in their own way…

T – True. Otherwise it might have come as a bit too angsty if both of them had issues. If there was no Kyle I’d be buggered.

P – Yeah, wish we could have met Kyle so we could compare him to Dane.

C – Yeah I’d like more Kyle too. But I loved how Dane went for what he wanted.

Beside, I like m angst in my romance lol, that’s what makes it not so Cinderella lol.

Did Cathy just open a whole can of worms?

P – Cinderella is all about angst LOL.

T – Oh God *groans* Cinderella is a pain in that area.

P – *snort*

T – The thing is that you get deceived a bit from the blurb with this book. You expect some kind of action from it and then boom! You have none. I think when I review it I’ll have to mention this part.

C – Yes it was totally different from I had expected, but I was still very happy with it.

P – Riley is a great character, so unsure of himself but confident when it comes to his job.

C – I loved them both and thought they made a great match they complimented each other well.

So aside from action plot we have the emotional and sexy part of the plot. Thoughts?

P – I liked how they both sort of did the flirting/stalking before either got up the courage to make a move.

T – My thoughts on the intimate parts are: HOT!!! Is it just me or did those two work really well together?

C – I agree with you both, and the dinner in bed… holy cow!!! I melted!

P – They fit together perfectly and the sparks between them could have started their own fires.

C – I liked that it was hot without overdone or vulgar, and not too soft.

T – Yeah, exactly. There was all this built up that went higher and higher and higher and then simply exploded. Pretty good for my tastes. The fact that they stopped seeing each other gave some quality to their “hook up”.

Sensual and erotic, that’s what comes to mind with this couple. *smiles*

C – I kinda liked how Dane stood back to let things work. I was surprised by the turn at the end. I figured it would be Dane making a last-ditch effort, I loved it.

P – Yeah Thommie, even better was the way that Riley took that step back even though he wanted more of Dane, and then he took a chance that Dane still wanted him.

T – Meh, Dane was smart. He saw how frigging skittish Ri was.

C – It was purrrfect!

P – Dane had definitely more experience with men and their reactions.

T – Yup, the dynamics here were well thought through. Liked this author’s style when it came to profiling the characters, and showing their actions and emotions.

C – Me too and I loved how they did it through the other characters also, that was cool.

P – Yep, M.L. Rhodes is a great author and knows how to write a good story.

P – Dreagan Lords! *bows to the muses*

C – I may have read some more Rhodes with this memory issue it’s hard to say. But I definitely would again.

T – Jeff!!!

*Laughs her head off* I loved Jeff. Too bad he’s straight and we won’t see him again.

P – Damn I’d like to meet him in a dark alley.

(Uh-huh!)

T – Hahaha!

C – …and the barista that was too cool… Oh, which one I’d like Riley…

P – Jeff of course! *smiles*

I loved that Riley didn’t make a big deal out of once fancying Jeff.

T – Yup. I truly dislike it when a character gets an obsession for the unattainable straight guy. He lowers in my eyes a tiny bit.

C – I don’t mind a bit of attraction, but if it absolutely unattainable like in this case with Jeff having a family etc. I don’t like the gay guy all on it… This was perfect amount of everything. I liked how Jeff came to bat to help Riley.

P – God I hate when they angst about it for half the book, that’s what made this so refreshing.

T – Agreed. It’s such a waste of space where one could use to focus more on the main plot.

C – Yes, unless it’s one where they could change but I agree with you I hate that its degrading like a woman wanting her best friend’s hubby or something lol.

T – In the end this was just a very easy read and highly amusing.

C – Yes enjoyable and pleasant. I loved it!

P – It was a good story it blended everything in just right and was paced quite well.

C – Yes I agree, pretty well-balanced.

T – I think we pretty much exhausted all points…

P – Hmm, I know I was trying to think of something more to say, but it isn’t an in-depth type of book.

T – It was a really fast read. Not much more to say when it only took 2 hours to read. *winks*

C – Yeah I think so too. What were your ratings? I gave it a 4 Hearts.

T – 3.5 Hearts for me.

P – 3 1/2 – 4 for me.

*********************************      *********************************

Silence once more reins the room. The girls look at each other, some silently regretting this gathering is over so fast, others thinking of the chores they have to do now getting irritated by the second, and some perhaps eagerly anticipating next week when they’ll be joined together once more.

Abruptly standing up Pixie gives us her fair-wells “Night Thommie, night Cathy.”

“Night y’all”, Cathy cheers. “Yeay, I can’t wait for next week; of course we couldn’t do it without you Thommie!”

With a shit-eating grin on her face Thommie gives a wave while imagining the eye-roll Pixie must have given to that comment as she’s heading out of the door. Shaking her head Thommie laughs just before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Damn she missed her girls.

 

The End!